For immediate release
June 25, 1998


NPR Series Judicial Vacancy Crisis Wins American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award

-Nina Totenberg Report Garners ABA's Highest Media Honor-

Washington, DC – The five-part National Public Radio® (NPR®) series Judicial Vacancy Crisis, which aired on Morning Edition®, has won the 1998 Silver Gavel Award in the radio category of the American Bar Association's Gavel Awards. The series, reported by NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg and edited by Michele DuBach, examined the federal judicial selection process in the context of history, current politics and the constitutional balance of powers among the three governing branches.

The forty-first annual Gavel Awards will be handed out during the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Toronto on August 3.

The ABA has presented the Silver Gavel Awards since 1958 to recognize products in media and the arts that are exemplary in fostering the American public's understanding of law and the legal system. It is the ABA's highest honor in recognition of this purpose.

Renowned for its journalistic excellence and providing standard-setting news, information and cultural programming, NPR serves a growing audience of 13 million Americans each week on 600 member stations. Award-winning NPR programs include All Things Considered®, Morning Edition®, Talk of the Nation®, and NPR's Performance Today®.